...and making beer is too. The local homebrew store I buy my stuff from recently raised their prices, significantly. For example, the kit to make a batch of porter, which I just made (Pat, email me if you want to sample it when it's ready, it should be ready by next week) went from $34.95 to $41.95. Yowza! Considering the average yield is around 50 12 oz bottles, that price increase equals about 14 cents per 12 oz. That may not sound like a lot, but imagine the outcry if gasoline or even milk went up by that increment in a two month span!

I saw another coyote just beyond the property line of my yard a few days ago. it was about 3 pm and I was in the kitchen with the patio door to my right and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a deer. I looked and it was no deer. It was a coyote. It was too big to be a fox but it didn't look as big as the coyote I saw in the same spot in 2005. It wasn't a dog either and I could tell it didn't have a collar.

As I did the last time, I grabbed my camera and by the time I got out the door, he ran into the woods - the same spot as before. Undaunted, I ran outside to about 10 yards from the spot he was standing but saw nothing. However, I did hear a flurry of activity from the birds, akin to how they chirp when my cat is about. The cat was inside this time so they were either chirping at the coyote or another animal.

On a side note, about two weeks ago, I noticed bite marks on my cat. I assumed it was from a dog or larger cat. I'm wondering if my cat has seen the coyote up close; something I've been unable to do. I just want to get close enough to snap a photograph.

Since Google is unwilling to honor US veterans on Veteran's Day or honor those on Memorial Day who have given their last full measure of devotion so that Google can choose to ignore them, I have an idea for Google's new logo:

I know I'm a little late but 1) I'm busy and 2) I am not an artist. I would like to make an animated logo where 'Google' transforms to 'Goebbels' but I haven't the skills to do it. I need to work on the B's yet. I tried to make them lowercase but they didn't turn out right.

Anyway, here is a link to some very dignified design recommendations. Given that Google hires only the best talent, there is no excuse for such perfidy. Again, these are very good and very respectful.

A quote from the link (from Google): "We wouldn't want to create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful in any way."

Google, your PR people are worthless pieces of trash. Look at those submitted logos. Tell me you can't create graphic as tasteful as any of those. I hope the numbnuts at Google realize that their bullshit is protected by the First Amendment.

For the record, I use Alltheweb my primary search engine and Ask.com as my backup. Google is usually choice number three and, luckily, I usually find what I when using Alltheweb and Ask.com.

As Ike addresses these men from the 101st Airborne Division, many thoughts must be going through their heads. I can assure you that one thought not going through their heads is wondering if any seditionous weasel in Congress will announce to the world that the war is lost if any part of their objectives are not met.

Let us not forget that bloody day on June 6, 1944. Let us not forget the many bloody days that both preceded and followed that day. Let us not forget the men, perhaps some men in this picture, who gave their lives so that others may have opportunity and hope.

Let us not forget that this was not FDR's war, it was our war. "FDR's war" sounds silly doesn't it? It sounds silly today too with another name inserted in there.

Let us not forget the spectacular display of military and industrial might, the likes of which had never been seen before or since, that our great nation put on in the months following June 6th. Let us never forget what we are capable of when we work together for a common goal.

Yes, he's back. After serving eight years in prison, Dr. Kevorkian is a free man. He said he'll no longer assist those who are terminally ill and wish to commit suicide. So, what's Jack to do? I have an idea.

As of January 1, 2007, there were 3,350 death row inmates in the U.S. Let's put Jack back to work! He can start with the older and terminally ill inmates and then work his way down the list. However, he must make one exception in the chain, for his first 'case' he must rid the earth of the thug turned commencement speaker who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulker. Go Jack go!

Like many Americans, I was surprised to find out that Hillary Clinton failed the DC bar exam in 1973. To her credit, she did pass the Arkansas bar exam that same year. I haven't watched the news today but I am confident that this must be all over such mean conservative leaning news outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and CBS News. Drat that conservative media who buries stories like these!

So it was 34 years ago and what does it matter? Something that happened 30-plus years ago mattered when Bush was running for a second term and it mattered so much that several people had to conspire and create Microsoft Word documents that pre-dated Microsoft's founding to make something 'true.'

I did some searches on Google news. I typed in "hillary clinton failed bar" (sans quotes) and got 169 hits. The first was from Newsbusters.org and the link worked. The second was from the Boston Globe. I clicked the link and the mention was on the second page, fifth paragraph from the end. At least the Globe didn't hide the story like NPR did which was the the third result from the search. When I clicked that, I got a page not found error.

Additionally, I didn't find anything in the NYTimes about it but I'n not surprised either. I changed 'failed' to 'flunked' and only got a story about JFK Jr.

Anyway, I went to the NPR site and did find the story which is more of a blog post. In the article was a quote: "already-known fact that Clinton failed the District of Columbia bar exam."

Already known? By whom? She admittedly kept it secret for 30 years! The link provided by blogger Tom Regan where he claims it was 'already known' links to a someone's blog post dated on May 25, 2007 which simply references that she did mention it in her autobiography. I seem to recall her book made some bestsellers lists but it appears that no one read it or, if they did, they selectively forgot that part.

If she's capable of hiding something from her closest friends for 30 years, imagine what's she's capable of hiding from the American people. There is nothing wrong with failing a bar exam but there is shame in not being able to admit it.

I just finished reading On Point by Roger Hayes. Roger chronicles his year in Vietnam from 67-68 serving with the 1/5 (mech) in the 25th Infantry Division. The book is an informative read that shows one draftee's view of things during his tour. He details many of the mundane and many of the dangerous things he experienced as a combat soldier. I am not going to give a full book review so I recommend that everyone read it. I will, however, quote one passage from it:

"The next morning we swept another area and found five NVA soldiers hiding in a clump of brush. We killed one and captured four along with two M16's, and AK-47, and two pistols. The butt plate on one of the pistols, a .38, was stamped 'St. Louis Police Department.' We had no idea how the NVA got that gun, but several possible scenarios came to mind. They could have found it on a dead GI or one that they had taken prisoner. We had heard that several antiwar organizations in America had sent weapons to North Vietnam to aid them in ridding themselves of foreign aggressors. We didn't understand how American citizens could do such a thing, but there was a lot about the feelings of our fellow countrymen that we failed to comprehend." (Hayes, p. 187)

Roger, you and I both. Antiwar organizations sent weapons to North Vietnam? I never knew this; oh, the irony, oh the treason. If people really did this and they are still alive, they should be hunted down and tried for treason and, if found guilty, executed.

"Michelle Bailey, a slender, apparently healthy 22-year-old, used a scooter to get around a recent pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino. ''Four-inch heels,'' she explained with a laugh, pointing to her lipstick-red pumps"

and

"'It was all the walking,' 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, Texas, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation, 'and now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet.'"

So, you are too frickin' lazy to walk a few miles? Heels are uncomfortable? Too bad. It's too difficult to bar-hop in Vegas and walk from casino to casino? When it's said that people like America but not Americans, this is why. Our society's progressive and indulgent trend towards "if it can be done, why not do it?" and the erosion of morals, values, and ethics is the cause. No wonder companies send work overseas. It's not to save money on labor, it's because of sloth-butt people like this.

On a weekend where we honor our fallen soldiers, sailors, and marines, I have to open my paper and read this garbage. Those who have given all must be turning in their graves and be absolutely livid at how we have devolved as a society and at the sloth of some people who are obviously uneducated, lazy, thankless, and egocentric sycophants with no moral ground.

Those of you have had the joy of driving on I-78 through Hamburg over the past year or so know what I mean when I say that the area is a mess. One day last fall we were traveling Eastbound and hit the stopped traffic just past exit 23 (Hamburg is 29), which is the last exit before the constriction (not a typo). Once you pass exit 23, there is no turning back and you are at the mercy of the constriction until you pass exit 29 and by that point you are just about out of it. We stopped at around 4:00 pm. We cleared the constriction zone at 5:30. It took 90 minutes to drive five miles.

On Sunday, we were going Eastbound again and this time we bailed at exit 23. Warning signs indicated that stopped traffic was around mile marker 26. We took the Blue detour through Shartlesville then Hamburg. We followed the signs but they abruptly ended. So I followed a sign to 22/78 and ended up having to get on 78 WEST and then exiting at 61 N, turning around in the parking lot in which I saw another Blue detour sign and swung down back to 78 East. Take the detour, it is quicker. I haven't done the Westbound detour yet but if I do, I'll give a report.

I have a feeling Willie Singletary is going to be elected in November. From the article:

"Records Action News obtained show his drivers license is revoked until 2011 for a slew of traffic convictions, including driving with no insurance, reckless driving, careless driving, running a red light, driving an unregistered vehicle, an entire laundry list of charges that has netted him $11,412 in fines and a warrant for his arrest."

Give the people of Philadelphia what they want. They want this guy as a traffic court judge? You got it. I wonder what the election turnout was in the primary. When the citizen fails to inform himself and fails to vote, he gets what he deserves. Of course, for those citizens who live in Philadelphia and vote, pulling the straight D ticket year in and year out doesn't seem to show any progress either. Perhaps the citizenry there just prefers to stay uninformed and pull that same lever blindly on every election day.